I hate Memes

I'm getting to the point I hate memes.

What?  These colorful bon-mots that make our social media experience so much brighter and happy?  How could you hate memes?

Glad you asked.  Let's talk about the memes I saw today.  First up, how about the "NASCAR is doing away with the National Anthem and opening prayer, let's do away with them!" meme.  I have snoozed 2 and explained to 2 more that this is provably FALSE.  But no, you have to share stuff that you don't know is true about a sport you apparently don't watch.  I for one am proud of NASCAR's recent stands, and how they stuck by Bubba Wallace.

On that subject, a lot of people who decided not to look into anything made meme hay over comparing Bubba to Jesse Smolett.  Let's see here, first off, Bubba was NOT the one who found and reported the noose that wasn't a noose.  Second, in the climate of the stand he just made before this- a stand that NASCAR was intelligent enough to see he was RIGHT on, unlike our meme warriors- anyone can and should be forgiven for jumping to conclusions.  Third, Jesse was not an innocent victim, nor even mistaken- he was a proven liar who reaped the benefits of being related to a (at the time) Democrat Presidential candidate.

Let's move on to the COVID mask wars.  Today, the featured attempt at humor was, "If the Government told you to crawl on the ground to avoid COVID, a lot of people would do it."  Do you want to know who is gullible in my opinion?  People who would rather hawk conspiracy theories, insult people who have concern for their fellows in society, and put their selfish desires and political persuasions above all else.  Especially the Christians- some of whom I respect a lot in other areas- that seem to forget that when Jesus had a choice between compassion for the sick and downtrodden and pushing a political platform- well, I never read where He EVER pushed a political platform.  But I did see Him have compassion on a lot of people and heal them.  And the only ones He ever insulted were the ones who talked religious and lived for themselves.  Something to think about.

On the subject of politics- don't get me wrong, I like what Trump has done.  Lord knows I owe all these lovely OT hours to him.  HOWever, some people have lost their freaking minds declaring him "the best President ever."  I'll grant you 'best President since Reagan' especially considering all the men who have revealed themselves to be horse's rumps in the office since then.  But better than Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln?  "Methinks ye dost not know the meaning of the word 'ever' ".  And I really love the ones that have Jesus guiding His hand.  Because if you read Proverbs every day, you'd know that you could factually put every President, King, mayor, Prime Minister, etc in that picture and still be right.


I won't even bring up the, "If you love Me, share this post" stuff.

So yeah, I'm a bit sick of memes tonight.  So you know what I do?  I hide the friend's post, and snooze where they got it from so I don't have to see the next guy share it.  And get more and more particular about what posts I put 'likes' on.  Because I want to look more at a question than joke-deep.

Time Machine co-ordinates VICXLIX63062655

So I'm back here- no, WAAAAY back here, in June 26th of 1955, the first summer of the Martin Era 2.0!  I struck out on actually interesting history of the date, so I'm gonna start us out with our 6D victim.  And it's kinda hard to get to a 6D victim the way I have to do 1955.  You see, my go-to Panel site only had 4 stations:  KTSP Minneapolis, WJR Detroit, KIJV Huron, South Dakota, and WHEC Rochester NY.  And with each having a different song at the top, here's what I did.  I added in the Cashbox and Billboard charts, and any song that made top ten on any of them got to play.  Cashbox had the biggest chart, and the lowest song on any of the lists (that actually made the list, which all 27 songs did on CB) was #45, so I made a point system with #1=45, #2= 44, etc.  Averaged them out for the average score the song got per stations that charted it- and then, just to make it fair, added the number of times it was on a chart  (hence, if you averaged 37 points on 3 stations, you got 40 points, where a song that got 37 points on just one chart got 38.)  ALL that said, it was Cashbox's #14 that gets the nod, and here's its story.

Once upon a time, there was a band called the Quarrymen, whose first single was a cover of That'll Be The Day on one side, and In Spite Of All The Danger on the flip.  Now, of course, 2 of those boys were George Harrison and Paul McCartney.  The original acetate was estimated by Record World 16 years ago to be worth upwards on $193,000 in today's money, give or take.  Paul and George put the song together with Paul using as a model for an "Elvis-type song" a song from the King's first lp called  Trying To Get You, which was first recorded in 1954 by the Eagles....

...no, this is a different Eagles, about whom I found out very, very little.  It was co-written by one Rose Marie McCoy, who also, after a good bit of digging, I learned was also a co-writer on our 6D victim.  It was the #14 b-side to the song at #7 on CB- a song that will be in our finals- and it was Nat King Cole with If I Try.

Welcome to this week's Time Machine!  In a moment we'll get to our act at POTM, Fleetwood Mac!  But first, let's play our first  second of 2 debuts- because the first one, at #10, will be the 500th M10 song, and I wanna save it!  The 499th one, though, is notable, because it marks the first time an act has 3 songs on my countdown simultaneously!  I told you how the Explorer's Club has 2 lps out- one of covers and one of originals?  Here's one of the originals, at #8...





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Now see, why can't that be so easy on Firefox?  Anyway, it's time to bring out... Nardole, what the heck?

Well, sir, their contract stipulated that they wanted only to be from the era of which you were referencing.  So we either had to have them do another 1977 list or...

...Or bring them in at their ages in 1955?

Correct.

Oh, this should be fun... Okay kids, line up and give me names and ages...

Mick, I'm 8 years old...
Johnny, I'm 10...
I'm Christine, and I'm 12...
My name is Lindsey, and I'm 6 yeahs owd...

Okay, so why did you get to come as an adult, Ms Nicks?

SN:  Call me Stevie, Chris.  I'm a witch, and therefore immortal.

Uh-HUH.  So I guess I'm gonna have to lean on you for help here...

CMV:  I got bubble gum (POP)!  Wanna piece?

Ah, no thanks, I...

LB:  I like Sugah Babies bettow, because they stick on my tongue, hee hee!

JMV:  You're such a little doofus!

LB:  Am not, doodie-head!

Children, settle!  So one of the things that came out of this list was that there was exactly ONE song that got just one vote, Sarah Vaughn's Whatever Lola Wants- and exactly one song that got votes on all six charts- and it doesn't even make the finals!

SN:  Which one was that?

Frank Sinatra's Learning The Blues.  He had a 4, two 5's, a 7, and two 9's, but all it got him was tied for 8th.

SN:  You should be very careful with that.  In 1955, he was a very powerful warlock...

Okay, then.  I... hey, wait, if he was a warlock, why isn't he immortal?

SN: Who says he isn't?

But he's dead...

SN:  Is he?

In 2020, he is...

SN:  Is he?

MF:  Johnny just put a booger in my ear!  (POW!)

Hey, stop tha...

JMV:  Oh yeah?  (POW!!!)

MF:  WAAAAAAH!

LB:  WAAAH!!!

CMV:  Why are YOU crying, little baby?

LB:  That weird lady keeps looking at me funny- like she's gonna eat me!

SN:  Not that the thought hadn't crossed my mind in the future...

OOOOOKay, Nardole, would you please take the kids down to the commissary, so nice Uncle Elvis can give them some cookies and ice cream?

N:  Certainly, come along...

And Stevie, perhaps you could give us this week's finalists, perhaps in the order that Billboard had them, which will mix things up a mite...

SN:  Certainly.  So, the #1 on Billboard was Bill Haley and his Comets, Rock Around The Clock...
Then #2, Perez Prado, Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White...
Nat King Cole with the a-side of the 6D victim, A Blossom Fell at #3...
Les Baxter's orchestra doing one of 3 charting versions of Unchained Melody was #4...
Number 5 was Frank Sinatra, Learning The Blues... I thought you said that wasn't in the finals?

I know, I was looking at the wrong list when I said that.  Funny thing, too...

SN:  Isn't it, though? (Smiles)... and the last contestant is Al Hibbler's version of Unchained Melody at #9...

All right, there you go!  Who scored the highest in the Mighty Martin 1955 system? Stay tuned for that in a bit.  But first, a brand new to the M10 (but not country music) act claims the honor of the 500th M10 song!  It almost was another cover, but this one wins out at the last moment... give a hand to Margo Price at #10....






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Okay, that leaves us the minimal stat pack, with the big mover this week going to Sammy Davis Jr, with That Old Black Magic moving 14 spots from #46 to 32.

Canada was 2 years out from having a record chart, and South Africa 3.  However, Australia had one, and it operated like Cashbox in that it combined all the popular versions into one entry, so it was the combined efforts of recordings by the Four Aces and Billy Vaughn's Orchestra that put Melody Of Love (no, not the Bobby Vinton Polish one) at the top there.  And in the UK, it was yet another version of Unchained Melody, this one by Jimmy Young.  For my money, though, the best one charting at this point belonged to Roy Hamilton, which got a #13 from Billboard, a #2 from Minneapolis, and was part of the three artist collective at #1 (with Baxter and Hibbler) on Cashbox.

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The rest of a very unsettled M10:

The War And Treaty slip back whence they came, down 3 to #9 with Jealousy.
Blackberry Smoke climbs to 7 with their version of Midnight Rider.

The entire top 3 from last week fall three- Badfinger to 6 with Baby Blue, The Explorer's Club to 5 with Can't Find The Time, and the Shacks from 1 to 4 with Smile Now, Cry Later.  And I didn't want to drop any of them, but...

The Jayhawks up one to 3 with their recent song, This Forgotten Town...
The Explorer's Club (again!) with Didn't Want To Have To Do It at #2, up from 7...

And a new number one with an old cover from 1995...

...the Jayhawks with Bad Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They climb from #5 in one bound for that one!  And now, that final six....

Nat King Cole scores 6th at 45.25, 4 charts and no #1s...

At 5th, Al Hibbler's UM with 2 #1's (like CB, Huron SD lumped everyone together), 3 votes, and 45.3 points.

#4 was Learning The Blues, you know the stats there, and 45.6 points...

A tie for second at 47 points even- Les Baxter's UM (same stats as Hibbler except the points, b/c he did better in Minneapolis and got a vote from NY that gave him 4; and Bill Haley with his BB #1 vote...

And the winner, with 47.2 points, and 5 votes- three of them at #2...

Perez Prado, with Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Join a hopefully adult Perez and myself next time for 1956!

Wednesday Bible Study: The end of all things- Isaiah

The 66th chapter of Isaiah puzzled me- on the surface, it seems a stream of interconnected, but not in order, prophecies, that I was having a hard time seeing an overall message.  But I talked out the story with Laurie, and I came to realize it is a mini- version of everything Jesus taught in the Gospels!

Isa 66:1  Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?

Matt 8  ²⁰ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

 Isa 66:2  All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
Matt 9 ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’^[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

 Isa 66:4  I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight."
2 Thess 2: ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

 Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: "Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name's sake have said, 'Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy'; but it is they who shall be put to shame.
John 16 :1“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. ² They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. ³ And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

And on and on.  From this point here, though, after a discussion on who is worshiping properly and who is not, the prophecy does a couple of u-turns:  First it goes into how the Jews will be re-established in the New Jerusalem after the Second Coming (vv 6-14), then it backtracks to the destruction of the final battle (vv15-17).  Then it returns to the gathering of Jew and Gentile in the New Jerusalem (vv18-20).  And from then to the end, there were 3 points that made me stop and consider.

First one, Isa 66:19  and I will set a sign among them.  This sign, the commentators struggled with IMHO.    K&D thought it to be the sign of the Lord's Wrath, come upon the evil ones just as the Plagues were a sign to Pharaoh.  But I'm thinking something else here.

Zech 12: ¹⁰ “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. ¹¹ On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

It will be the sign by which the people of Israel will finally see Christ as Messiah.

Second thing:  Isa 66:21  And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. 

God is going to be setting up a new priesthood in those days- one not by family, but by obedience.



Third thing- and another you'll remember Jesus hitting in the Gospels:




Isa 66:24  "And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh." 

Mark 9:47  And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸ ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ ⁴⁹ For everyone will be salted with fire.

Are these survivors of the last war, the residents of the New Jerusalem, going to have a mini-picture of hell right in their back yards?  I recall the debate we had in Daniel over the gap in 'days':

 Dan 12:11  And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.
Dan 12:12  Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. 


Which itself is a gap from the 'time, times, and half a time' of 1,260 days the Angel first gave.  And I had wondered if this was the time for the burial of the slain of Armageddon- but it didn't match another prophecy- that of Ezekiel:

 Ezek 39:11“On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.^{[a] 12} For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. ¹³ All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day that I show my glory, declares the Lord God. ¹⁴ They will set apart men to travel through the land regularly and bury those travelers remaining on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it. At^[b] the end of seven months they will make their search. ¹⁵ And when these travel through the land and anyone sees a human bone, then he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. ¹⁶ (Hamonah^[c] is also the name of the city.) Thus shall they cleanse the land.  

And now it sounds like they'll be there until the final judgment, 1,000 years hence.  Either way, it seems that they will have not only the scars of Jesus to look on that day, but the scars of sinful humanity as well. 

Father's day

Okay, so you all know Sunday was Father's Day, and most know I am a father.  So it was not surprising to get a message from my youngest, Shenan, that she was on her way after church.

Shenan, as is her wont, came with a plethora of things.  I'm betting that set above will come in the handiest, though I've yet to determine what will be snuck into work inside it (purely for shock value, of course...)


The coolest, though, was a custom-made tee...

Lloyd is Shenan's BF, whom I usually call Soybean as he is a farmer.  I am a lucky man that I have a daughter able to find a decent, upstanding young man who I have mucho respect for. 

In addition to these items, she gave me more picture frames, which is always handy but I may be forced to build a wall across the middle of the living room to hang anything else at this point.  Just from where I'm sitting in my computer chair, I counted 37 hanging items, not counting the odd cobweb.

It was a bit later, as I was grousing in the disappointment of the Talladega race being rained out till Monday, that my eldest, KC, and his family, minus two young'uns previously engaged.  (BTW, did you know when you right-click on the squiggly line on 'Talladega' to see how the computer would spell it, it thinks you meant to say 'gallbladder'?  Weird, wild stuff.)

As you might imagine between us, the gift haul here was largely beer-related...

These last two items are 'his and hers' bottle cap shooters!

My last surprise came right after this....

...and that was that Misty had 'something planned for her Daddy, with Mommy's creativity and help.  But before we get to that, my baby turned two this weekend, and we celebrated...

Misty was NOT impressed with the candles, and Mommy had to not only blow out the candles, but sit the Brownie Bite 'birthday cake' on the floor and step away...

She also got, on top of her many snacks, a gourmet meal...

So what does the doggie that got everything give Daddy on Father's day?  Something else that hangs...

Sunday message: On forgiveness

If you remember a while back, I did a lesson on what to learn from the mistakes of Peter, and formed it into a personal acronym for my use- BLEST HOW? FAVA.  This morning while I let Misty run at the Bark Park, I tried praying through it- sadly, for the first time in a couple weeks- and found I couldn't get the L to come to mind, no matter how hard I tried. 

So I just went on to pray the rest of it, and when I hit the F- "forgive as you have been forgiven"- I listened as God reminded me that there is a deeper depth to that statement than we usually think about.  When Jesus forgave us, He forgave the "whole" us- Our situation with Him; our attitudes on life that were contrary to His; the things we had experienced that shaped our personality at the time;  not just our sin, but WHO WE WERE in that moment, and who we ARE in this moment, and who we will be in the end.  He didn't just say, "Here's a pile of sins, they are written off".  He said, just as you are, without any plea, I forgive you."


And THAT'S how we are to forgive others.  We need to think about what made them the person that sinned against us and God, consider that there is a lot of human being in there that is going into the person you are trying to forgive.  When you see the whole person you are trying to forgive, you have a better shot at forgiving them- especially forgiving them in the way that you were forgiven.


And that L I couldn't remember?  LISTEN.

Time Machine co-ordinates VICXLVIII62961977

Remember a couple hundred posts or so ago, when it seemed like every week, the 'on this day' vignette featured an awful plane crash?  This year, the hot topic is BaseBrawl...

Here, on Father's Day 1977, we see Dodger Reggie Smith taking a swing at Cub Rick Reuschel because he felt Rick hit him on purpose.  Being a fan of that era, I have but one comment... I don't ever remember Reuschel looking that svelte...

See, now there's the porker I remember...

(Pictures courtesy LA Times and WorthPoint BTW.)

In looking it up, I see the game was tied at 1 in the third inning with two outs.  RIGHT when I'd hit someone on purpose, Reg.  How's that anger management class coming?

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Welcome to this week's Time Machine, where our guest is... who is our guest, Nardole?

That's Nardole, N-A-R...

I SAID Nardole.

Oh, so you did, sorry!  I'm so used to the others calli-

Nardole, the guest?

Paul McCartney, sir...and yesterday was his 78th birthday!

But you did get the 1977 version, right?

Yes, sir!

Alright, good job!  Let's just go on ahead and bring him out!

Hi, Paul!  Nice to see you again!

You wouldn't think so by the bum's rush you gave us last week...

Last week's show was taped on a very bad day...


But this one was better?

Worse, actually, thanks for asking!  Anyway, this week we have something we haven't seen for a while- a run-off vote between the top 2 songs!


Is this where I should say, "How long was it?"

I really wish you wouldn't.  But before we get on with things, I have a special that has you written all over it!


Oy, an' what would that be?

Somebody did a poll of UK voters on the happiest song of all time, and I recorded the Martin Era 2.0 songs that were on the list, with where they actually fell on the big chart, and I thought you might share them with us!


Sounds like fun- any of my stuff, or the old band's?

Um, let me go back here...  All You Need Is Love was 255th... Here Come The Sun, 179th... Twist And Shout 58th...  that would be it...


IT?  Seriously?

Hey, they're YOUR countrymen...


Very well, let me see your list...

Number ten, which was 36 on the full list, was the Bee Gees with You Should Be Dancing... That's happier that Jet, or Helen Wheels...

Paul...


All right.  Number nine, 31 overall, was Fleetwood Mac with Don't Stop.
Number eight, 30 overall, was Martha and the Vandellas, Dancing In The Street ...

You can't argue with THAT one...


I suppose.  Seven was James Brown, I Feel Good (I Got You), 28 overall.
Six was... was... 

Paul?

...Barry White's You're My First, My Last, My Everything?  Who was happy about that one, the typesetter?  Alas, #24 overall.

Number five, KC and the Sunshine Band, That's The Way I Like It, 20 overall...
Number four, The Four Seasons, Oh What A Night, 19 overall...
Number three, Elton John and Crocodile Rock, 17 overall.  But no Yellow Submarine...
Number two,  ABBA?  Dancing Queen? Number four overall?

Steady, bud...


And the number one, at least THAT's no surprise... 

...ELO and Mr Blue Sky!  

Thanks, Paul, and we better get to this week's debuts on the M10- 2 of 'em, and the Cover Summer rolls on with both of them being covers!  The first is our new one at #9, brand new from Blackberry Smoke...









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 Ok, Paul, you up for the semi-finalists?  Give our audience 4 of the 16 songs from the 52-station Panel, and let them try and eliminate the right 2 and leave themselves with the run-off battle!

Right-o... I see we aren't on THIS list, either...

Paul, you did WIN last week...


Oh, yes, quite right.  Your four choices, please pick 2...

At #2 on the Cashbox survey, Fleetwood Mac and Dreams...
At #17... good Lord, Sean Cassidy and Da Doo Ron Ron...
Stevie Wonder at #22 with Sir Duke...
... and #5, Alan O'Day and Undercover Angel.  Heavens, where is the #1?

Well, Paul, that's where it gets interesting, because for the first time ever, the #1 song on Cashbox is the 6D victim!  We start this story with Chubby Checker's big hit, Pony Time.  It was one of many songs that had a co-write credit to one Don Covay.  Among those songs- and could they be two more different songs?- was the tune Sookie Sookie from Steppenwulf's first lp!  Steppenwulf was part of a big huge mess of a story I did way back in January of 2011,  which connected the Mynah Birds (who featured Neil Young, Rick James, and some future 'Wulfers) with just about everyone from the late 60's through mid 70's.  For today's purpose, we can stick to the concept that Steppenwulf had basically its beginning with Jack London and his Sparrows, who 'traded' bassist Bruce Palmer to the Mynah Birds for their bassist Nick St Nicholas, who was one of those future 'Wulfers.  That brings us to the young at the time Mr James, who comes into our story because in my research, his first solo lp (from which You And I and Mary Jane charted) was referred in a wiki article as an 'overnight success' which I had to chuckle about given the Mynah Bird history.  That article was about his co-producer, Art Stewart, who also produce this week's #1 Cashbox song which got no Panel love- Marvin Gaye's Got To Give It Up.




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Second cover debut this week at #7, more new stuff from The Explorer's Club...









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Sigh... This has been a battle getting these videos on here.  I've been trying to use Firefox since Chrome's been dogging me, and Blogger does some seriously strange crap on Firefox.   Anyway, Paul, you still here?

Yes, I'm..ughn... I'm just hiding under the table here while you got those videos sorted...

Who are our two run off contestants?

Well, you lot should have went by the numbers.. it's #2 Dreams and #5 Undercover Angel!

All right!  So before we get to the M10, let's do the pared-down stat pack.  We have for a big mover this week, the Beach Boys and Rock And Roll Music, speaking of cover summers, up 20 spots from 61 to 41.  Our #1s around the globe...

South Africa had ABBA with Knowing Me, Knowing You, which was at #32 this week on Cashbox...

Australia was listening to Julie Covington's Don't Cry For Me, Argentina...

Canada had Dreams at the top...

And the UK was listening to Kenny Rodgers singing Lucille!

The M10 remainders...

Maddie and Tae spend their 10th week- a feat only ten other songs have managed- at #10, down 4 with I Don't Need To Know.

Kidsmoke squeezes out a 2-notch climb with Layla's Love...

The War and Treaty climb 9 to 6 with Jealousy...

Jayhawks back-to-back:  Bad Time up 2 to 5, This Forgotten Town stuck at 4...

Likewise stuck, Badfinger and the Baby Blue redux...

And also holding at #2, the Explorer's Club and Can't Find the Time...

Which means a second week at the top for...

...the Shacks and Smile Now Cry Later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And our run off?  And what a run off it was, as the one song blew out to a 7-1 lead, only to see it shrink to a 1-vote lead before winning 8-6...

Fleetwood Mac and Dreams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next week the Cover Summer goes backbackbackback... to 1955!

Chris's candidate debate

So a post by a FB buddy the other day led Laurie to ask me, "Who else IS running for President?"  Well, it seems that there are over 1,100 people registered with the FEC in the 2020 general, but we can winnow it down to a more manageable list for our purposes.  Here are the candidates, their parties, and the approximate chances of my voting for one of them:

The zero-percent club

You have no chance of me voting for these people, even with all other candidates assassinated and a gun to my head (which, with their affiliations, isn't as far fetched as all that):

Gloria De Riva, Party for Socialism and Liberation and Peace and Freedom Party
Gloria thinks a 30 hour work week combined with a basic income guarantee from the government is workable, and her parties believe in a socialist revolution (PSL) and democracy (PFP) which leads me to believe they might be a bit confused.

Jerome Segal, Bread and Roses Party
The party is 'socialistic' (which means they are socialist but don't want the stigma), utopian (which means they want a better world without the bill), and Anti-Trump (and thus won't run in a swing state where they'd screw the Dem nominee).  Segal himself is a Jewish activist who wants to be a force for those who support Jews without supporting Israel, more or less.

Jeff Mackler, Socialist Action Party; Joseph Kishore, Socialist Equality Party; Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party.
  The first two are "Trotskyite socialists" (basically, "I'm a Commie, but don't say nothing or some Stalinist will shoot me"), and Alyson's party is basically the Communist Party (but don't call us that, the stigma and all").  Mackler at least has a firmer grip on economic reality than De Rivera above, as he combines a $15 minimum wage with a 100% tax on anything over $150K (or $200 K, depending on the audience).

Howie Hawkins, Socialist Party USA. 
He gets his own entry only because he's also the founder of the Green Party, and as such is running for the still-contested Green Party nomination.  Of course, this makes our boy a Green New Dealer.

The also-receiving votes club

Phil Collins, Prohibition Party
That's right, Prohibition Party, the third oldest party in the nation- and you know what THEIR goal is.  Vote chances: >1%

Charlie Kam, Transhumanist Party. 
I marked this in my notes as the 'cyborg' party, as they believe in studying "the technological enhancement of human life".  Kam, the CEO of a software outfit that makes "lifelike avatars of humans" (isn't the point of an avatar to be a cartoonish representation?), was actually the VP nominee, but the main guy left the party because his stance as a 'transhumanist progressive' made him leave the party to try an inflict himself on the TBD Reform Party race.  I tried for ten minutes to understand the difference ( I guess it had something to do with THs wanting you to be focused on TH issues first and foremost, while THP lets you be distracted by other PC and SJW garbage) and basically failed.  I give them a 2% chance for the entertainment value.

Mark Charles, independent
Mark is half Navajo and half Dutch, which is a combo good for one point in and of itself.  He seems like a decent sort, so I'll bump him up to 3%.  Not surprisingly, Native American rights are his bag.

Rocky De La Fuente, Alliance Party
Rocky has ran for offices as a Republican, a Democrat, a Libertarian, and several other parties on today's list.  Wouldja believe he's a car dealer, son of a car dealer?  He's also under the watchful eye of the FDIC for liberties taken with his pet bank.  His party du jour is basically a combination of about 10 other parties you never heard of, so he's the perfect candidate for them- a guy who you can't tell what he stands for for a party who God knows what THEY stand for.  5% for entertainment value.  Swing me that sweet deal on a new Chevy and we'll talk more...

Jo Jorgenson, Libertarian Party.

Everybody likes to tout these guys for the "next big thing", but you need more than the catchy "All your freedoms, all of the time" slogan.  Her big campaign points seem to be: pardoning the victimless crime criminals (prove there's no victim and we'll talk), abolishing drug laws (because that worked so well in Mexico), cut all US aid, bring all troops home (because Munich 1938 worked so well), and nuclear plants as a major energy source (because Chernobyl, etc etc).  I'll give them 5% also for their amazing ability to get people to believe they have something of value to vote for.

The 'serious contenders'

Rudy Reyes, the Legalize Marijuana Now Party
Hear me out here!  Rudy is an archaeologist, a hero who received burns over 70% of his body saving people fro,m California's 2003 wildfires (and now an advocate for burn victims), and a contestant on one of the seasons of Master Chef.  As for his party, well, think of the debates he and Phil Collins from the Prohibition Party could have! 10%.

Brian Carroll, American Solidarity Party
Brian is a HS teacher, and his party is basically the equivalent of the Christian Democrat parties in Europe- center right economically, center-left socially.  They espouse a "Consistent life ethic"- no abortions, no euthanasia, no capital punishment.  15%.

Bill Hammons, Unity Party
They are the 'economic constitutionalists'- balanced budget, no income tax (but a health care deduction if we must), and of course term limits.  Kinda like Libertarians with some common sense.  20%.

Don Blankenship, Constitution Party
Now these guys I like.  First thing on their platform- they are a Christian party.  Second thing, they believe in the Constitution (Hence the name).  Blankenship is a coal company CEO working with Trump to get rid of the coal regulations (thanks, Obama) that are crippling the already wobbly West Virginia economy.  Voting chance: 50% for now, but with an eye to looking more there.

Wednesday Bible Study: The end of all things- Hosea

When I came to the little short chapter of Hosea 14, I realized I was getting the tail-end of a story.  It is the promise of what God will do for Israel in the future.  Much like our Sunday message, the future people Israel must have been wanting forgiveness without having to ask for it, because the very second verse instructs them:

Hos 14:2  Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, "Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips...




"Take with you WORDS..." They needed, like we do, to say it, not assume it.  That's part of humility.  But then, God takes over the situation...

Hos 14:4  I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.
Hos 14:5  I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
Hos 14:6  his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon.
Hos 14:7  They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Hos 14:8  O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.


I will heal... I will love... I will be...  I will answer.  But it all started with the spoken-word repentance.  And you might be saying to yourself, "Didn't the Israel being referenced get LEVELED by God for NOT doing this?"  Exactly, and that's why you have 2 further places to look at- one of them the chapter just previous...

Hos 13:14  Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
Hos 13:15  Though he may flourish among his brothers, the east wind, the wind of the LORD, shall come, rising from the wilderness, and his fountain shall dry up; his spring shall be parched; it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing.
Hos 13:16  Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword; their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open. 

Yes, compassion for the Israel of then was non-existent.  But the next chapter speaks of the remnant, the survivors who turned to Jesus in the Tribulation and survived Armageddon.  And this is a bookend message in this Book, for look at chapter one, a chapter in which God uses Hosea's wife and children to enact before Israel what was about to happen...

Hos 1:5  And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel."
Hos 1:6  She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, "Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
Hos 1:7  But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen."
Hos 1:8  When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son.
Hos 1:9  And the LORD said, "Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God."
Hos 1:10  Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God."
Hos 1:11  And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. 

Look at the contrast between verses 9-10.  This is where Israel struggled in prophecy- they couldn't conceive that God, standing above time, could see and talk of events thousands of years apart almost as the same thing in the same breath.  Even if they paid attention to the prophecy, most of them would say, "Look, it's gonna get bad, then go back to good.  We've been doing this for a while, we can't be THAT bad off."  But it was what was going to happen in that thousands of years long gap- a gap we still haven't got to the other side of- that SHOULD have scared them straight, and never did.  So now, the fall, the diaspora, the Inquisitions, the Pale, the Pogroms, the Holocaust, the wars-  all of this has happened in that gap where they were "not My People."

For those of you wishing you were back at work...

So last night I thought to do a MWN post for today's reader, but alas, the news was straight gloom and I was too tired to do the spelunking required to find.  But work today more than makes up for it, as I'm sure you will agree.  I will try to give you the perfect-world explanation of what SHOULD be happening, along with the real world "Oy, it hadda happen like this", moments.

Starting the day, we go to our respective cutting machines, me and my partner.  In the place of a freshly empty scrap fabric dumpster sitting between us, we have a mountain that was currently heaped 4 feet high and threatening to climb.  This is because our bright orange roll-around, which should have been emptied into the big dumpster outside Monday night, couldn't be so emptied because the big dumpster hadn't been dumped Friday or Saturday (currently working nooners on Saturday)- in fact I had had to climb into it and walk it down Saturday morning just to get Friday's in.  Our spanking new Plant Manager (let's call him 'Superman', due to an unfortunate and well-published photograph) believes this is because of our PPE area, staffed by temps, create a lot of waste.  (We won't tell him that when you hit busy season as we have, you don't really need the 16 hours OT to have two cutters create that much waste.)  He believes that once the PPE end winds down at the end of the week (down from "the end of the year and hopefully beyond" 2 weeks ago before millions of orders got cancelled for gowns), we won't be able to justify the extra hundred bucks for a third dump per week.  He also believes he will be able to talk to our VP into getting a compactor (My response: "Do you know how many PMs have told me they wanted to get a compactor?" Answer, 4 with Superman).  So we asked for a gaylord to put today's trash in.  Tune in in 3 hours to see how that went.

Oh, by the way, did I mention the VP is in plant today, along with his girl Friday and another dude from corporate?  You can see this will be fun today.

I came back with a couple of sheets of orders for REDACTED, our biggest customer companywide, supposedly serviced by the plant in Missouri that's located right next to it, but is hopelessly incompetent always swamped by them so badly it takes everyone at all three plants (down recently from 5, another brilliant decision) working OT to keep up and still try to keep up with our own customers.  The list, I noticed, is for orders dated PRIOR to the 130-odd orders I cut last week.  When I mentioned that, my boss (let's call her 'my boss') told me these were orders that the Wisconsin plant was supposed to be doing, but were hopelessly incompetent too swamped to complete.  I would start on them later.  I would need a roll of patch fabric for them, which my boss said the warehouse guy would be getting me soon, along with that gaylord.

Time passes, I grow sleepy.  The dumpster reaches a good 5 feet high now.  I have to stop and load 2 rolls of black fabric to finish off our customer (There technically was enough fabric on one to do the job- with 5 yards to spare- but as we are back to using the Chinese fabric, made by a vendor who is hopelessly incompetent who is the best price available, and thus I must plan on defects pushing me over the top.)

First break arrives, I am close to  cutting the Wisconsin/Missouri stuff- an order of 15 which don't require patch.  I tell Superman that we are still in need of the gaylord, as I am not about to try to hoist a bin full of scrap 5 feet to the top of a pile it won't stay on anyway.  He nods to boss, who says she just reminded warehouse guy (because my partner raised hell requested again).  I mention I still need the patch stuff.  Superman cuts into my break explaining all the trash stuff I told you in the first part- which, of course, I already knew.  I got some donettes to wake me up.

After break, I finish the our customer stuff- with no defects and a measlely 5 yards left on the first roll- and move on to the W/M stuff, of which I have one partial roll and then will have to load my rack.  Now, THIS roll has oil spots, burr lines, and assorted other defects (same fabric vendor, different color), and slows me down.  Also slowing me down is warehouse guy arriving with the gaylord, a plastic, fold-out type, which he leaves me to unfold.  Problem being, it came in from outside and is full of water.  I managed to get it open without getting wet- not sure how I managed that- but the floor, not so much.

One of the PPE people doubles as the morning cleaner, so I caught up with her and asked if she would bring herself and the company's one mop to our area to clean up.  She soon arrived with her mop- and since she severely misjudged the size of Lake Gaylord, without her bucket.  After bemusedly pushing it around for a couple minutes, even she figured, "This will take a bucket".

Sometime around 11, I reached that "load yer own fabric" point (NOTE:  Still no patch fabric, which requires a forklift).  Oh, and that reminds me, there was yet something else going on that factors in.  The way I understand it, our bending machine for canopy frames was putting a dent in the aluminum poles that "is only is visible if you knew where to look for it" (Needless to say, our biggest local customer found it).  They called in a tech to look at it, and using the forklift as a crane, he determined right where the problem was- and then, exacerbated it by breaking a plastic clip that would have to be custom made in (wait for it) Delaware.  At this moment, as I was putting my last roll up, and they were trying to determine the next move- with a rather large part suspended in mid air via forklift (yes we have but one)...


THAT'S when the lights started flickering.

Just a bank of fluorescents at first, then another, then our cutting machines.  Mine cuts off the table at the power breakers, but leaves my computers on.  My partner's table stayed on (but was making an odd noise that encouraged us to shut it off), but her computers started playing on-again, off again.  In the meantime, the plant had split in threes- 1/3 on, 1/3 off, 1/3 blinking so much I told Superman we should turn on Saturday Night Fever and dance.  By 11:30, Superman declared lunch while he waited for the electrician to arrive (BTW the electrician said that a similar 'brownout' had happened nearby yesterday, and it was the utility's problem, which would significantly extend the wait time).  Returning from lunch (done with one working microwave, which warehouse guy had moved to a functioning outlet and "was charging people five dollars to use"), we we told to 'clean our areas' while further waiting went on.  Here is what I did for the following 45 minutes:

Helped look for the source of a STRONG burnt-wire smell
Talked to various other employees
Stuck poles into the already overflowed plastic tip-out dumpster in order to load more into it without it all falling out (which I described as "Turning it from a sh!#pile into a sh!#pile standing at attention")
Counted up my covers cut this year- I might have topped the 2,000 mark today without the brownout
Swept the former "sh!tpile"
Watched warehouse guy- after they had finally lowered the part the forklift was carrying- unload 3 sewing machines from Wisconsin guy's van
Talked to more people

At this point, Superman took up one of my earlier ideas and sent my partner and I home.  Needless to say, the rest of the story involved a slice of cold pizza and a nap.

Monday pictures

Mostly from Sunday:

Antics with our squirrel population- first time I remember one actually hanging from our feeder...

Feathertail and a buddy were set to fight over the food- but instead decided #Squirrellivesmatter and joined forces...

Later, we head out for a walk...

Lots of people and doggies out!  This group either had an EXTREMELY short leash or were among the many who think, "I can walk my obedient doggie without a leash- I'm SURE I won't run into another doggie along the way."  I don't get the mindset of people not willing to protect their dogs from themselves.

Hard to get pictures to tell how beautiful the river was this morning.

"Especially with ME in it!"

Jumping in

The ravine trail was packed with these little bitty black squirrels...

Meanwhile at home, the sparrow mafia make an appearance...

Mrs Cardinal makes a quick getaway

Then comes a visit from the kids and grandkids...

Wiggles getting so close to standing up...

Mommy said, "I swear you two made the SAME FACE!  I can't stand you Martins!" 

Not exactly WWE, but entertaining.  Meanwhile, Wiggles was on top of my head, drooling...

Wiggles took this picture BTW...

"That's me: winner, baby photographer category..."

And finally, a shot of the elusive Mr Blue Jay...